Monday, September 2, 2013

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These cupcakes
are my beautiful mother Lee Brown’s favourite cupcakes. She is “not a sweet
tooth” apparently; however anytime these are baking in the oven she is
more than happy to eat at least one, smothered in cream cheese icing. Another
fan is my absolute legend of an uncle Pete Arlington, who also needs to taste
at least 2 or 3 each time I bake them, "...just to make sure of the flavour" he says.

I love when people love cupcakes,
especially mine. While these recipes aren’t my own, I have adapted them in my
own way and now they are a favourite of many of my friends and family. All I can say is – go ahead and
make these awesome red cakes; because red velvet is red hot right now, and their flavour is only describable as tasting red - you will just have to
see for yourself - oh, did I mention they're red?

Line cupcake tins with cupcake
patties, this recipe yields approximately 36 cupcakes.

To make the cupcake mix: in a small
bowl sift the flour and set aside.

In a large bowl on the medium speed
of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and
fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time beating
well after each addition.

In a small bowl, whisk together the
red food colouring, cocoa and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.
Ensure top scrape down the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated –
this stage it may look curdled which is OK.

In a measuring cup, whisk the salt in
to the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the
flour. (Remember, always start and finish with dry ingredients when
incorporating wet and dry – this means you will need to portion the flour
in to four parts, and the buttermilk/salt in to three).

Also in this part – ensure not to
overbeat. This is imperative!!!!! Make sure you mix with the electric
mixer until just combined, and at the end you can finish it off
with the spatula.

In a small bowl, stir together the
baking soda and apple cider vinegar. Add to the batter and mix well, again
just lightly beat with the electric mixer and do the rest by hand – making
sure the mixture is well blended and smooth.

Divide the batter among the cupcake
patty tins, you may need to bake in two batches as this mixture makes more
than 24 cupcakes – I use an old fashioned ice cream scoop that releases
the same portion per cupcake – one of the many best things that has ever
happened to me.

Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes
before turning them around to make sure both ends of the cupcake tray are
evenly baked. After 20 minutes, turn them around and bake for a further 5
minutes. You may want to watch them at this stage, because all ovens vary.

When a cake skewer is inserted and
comes out clean, the cupcakes are ready. Leave them in their trays for
5-10 minutes before moving to a wire rack and allowing to cool completely.

A trick that I
have said before, you can test when a cupcake is completely cool by
placing it on your wrist, if your wrist feels no heat, then the cupcakes
are ready to ice!

This recipe also
yields 2-3 cakes depending on how big you want them, if you want to do a
layer cake then bake the cakes for 40-50 minutes or until a cake skewer
comes out clean.

Butter
Lane Cream Cheese Frosting

*Yields
enough icing for 36 cupcakes, but this can be stretched a bit further.